Samsung, Hynix to Cooperate on 450 mm Wafer Standards
Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor will cooperate on the development of 450 mm wafer standards, according to a report by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 6/25/2008
Samsung Electronics Co. (Seoul, South Korea) and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (Icheon, Korea) reportedly will form a “united front” for cooperative 450 mm wafer development, according to a report by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The effort will be coordinated with ongoing standardization efforts by Sematech (Austin, Texas) and SEMI (San Jose).
"International standard setting is critical, particularly for manufacturing equipment and materials industries that have to make products designed to follow established rules," according to an unnamed industry source quoted by the news agency.
The 450 mm development effort will be coordinated between businesses, research laboratories and the government, with the agenda including both wafers and equipment, the report said.
The unnamed source told the news agency that if Samsung and Hynix can lead the standard-setting effort for 450 mm wafer fabs, it would help boost production of Korean semiconductor equipment and materials manufacturers from $7.8B in 2007 to $15B by 2012.
The two companies also agreed to foster Korea’s semiconductor equipment industry by introducing instruments that can evaluate "Made in Korea" equipment and parts. The report said Korea’s relatively small equipment makers have been challenged to sell to the large Korean memory chipmakers.
The companies will also cooperate on R&D for spin-torque-transfer magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) technology, the report said, citing the need to compete with Japan-based companies. The cooperative efforts were announced at a gathering of semiconductor companies and government policymakers in Seoul.
Earlier this year, Hynix executives expressed reluctance to quickly adopt 450 mm wafers, while Samsung has been supporting the transition to the larger wafer size.
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